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Codemasters have revealed details of the upcoming 2017 edition of the long running Formula One franchise, and much to fans delight classic content will be returning to the game!

With 2017 marking something of a pivotal moment in the franchise, Codemasters seemingly found many of the right ingredients fans have been requesting in recent years and built a remarkably solid and well rounded game, drastically improving the experience from the somewhat lacklustre earlier editions of the franchise.

With the 2017 Formula One season already in full swing, Codemasters have now finally confirmed what we have all been expecting and announced the 2017 edition of the series will once again be coming to PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this year, with a release date of August 25th confirmed for all entertainment systems.

As can be expected from an official Formula One franchise game, the new title will feature all the cars, tracks, drivers and rules of the new Grand Prix season. However of a bigger surprise for the new game is the return of classic content for the first time since 2013. Twelve "new" cars are scheduled to join the historic roster of vehicles, and already confirmed are the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 as driven by Alain Prost and Ayrton Senna, the 1992 Williams FW14B that was raced by Nigel Mansell and Riccardo Patrese and the 2002 Ferrari F2002 of Rubens Barrichello and Michael Schumacher, with Codies teasing news of more historic content due to be announced in the coming weeks.

As well as new content, players can also expect further improvements to the already impressive career mode and multiplayer enhancements, plus a brand new game mode in the form of the vaguely worded 'Championships' option.

Alongside the classic content reveal trailer, Codemasters have kindly released an enlightening interview with Game Director Paul Jeal and Creative Director Lee Mather, who spend a few moments shedding some light on the new title and what can be expected come release day in August.

"After an extremely successful year with the highly acclaimed F1 2016, we are delighted to be announcing F1 2017 and re-introducing classic F1 cars back to the series” said Paul Jeal, Game Director here at Codemasters. “Classics were incredibly well received when we included them in F1 2013, and in F1 2017 they are back and better than ever. With so many great cars to choose from, it was hard to decide on the final twelve, but we are delighted with our selection of some of the most successful and iconic fan favourites from the past 30 years.”

“For the first time ever F1 2017 fully integrates the classic experience into the main career mode,” said Lee Mather, Creative Director at Codemasters. “As part of your career you will be invited to race in modern day, invitational events in the different classic F1 cars throughout the season. We’re also adding to the variety in F1 2017 with the inclusion of four alternative circuit layouts, as well as numerous new gameplay types. The classic cars will also be available to play in a range of other game modes, including online multiplayer modes and time trial.”​

It is indeed good news that the classic content will be more thoroughly ingrained in the core gaming experience, and that Codemasters are intent on producing a sizable number of machines from the golden ages of motorsport. With 11 cars confirmed as coming with the base game release, those of you who pre order the new title will also get access to the 1988 McLaren MP4/4 that will be made available for purchase separately at a later date.

Formula One 2017 will be available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Steam PC systems from August 25th 2017. The game can be pre ordered from Steam for £44.99 right now.

Check out the Formula One 2017 sub forumhere at RaceDepartment to stay abreast of all the latest news and discussions with regards to the latest Formula One game from Codemasters.

Looking forward to the Formula One 2017 game? Are you happy to see the return of historic content? Which cars would you like to see added as part of the historic pack? Let us know in the comments section below!

I don't think there will be VR support until the next iteration of the Ego Engine. Plus, I don't think current consoles (The games main market I think) can handle VR comfortably quite yet.
I would expect it next year as the Xbox Scorpio is out and the PS4 Pro would have been out for a while - those consoles will be VR ready imo.

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I really can't believe there won't be vr support after it working so well in dirt rally. I understand why, but its very sad. As has already been mentioned, once you go vr it's awful going back to a flat screen, lifeless. A true representation of an offline f1 championship is what I crave, lol. Rf2, R3e and ac, although great in their own ways, just don't bring that. F1 2017 in vr could have been simply amazing. Let's hope it's patched down the line. Same goes for dirt 4 too.

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I don't want to be a downer as I love F1 and really want this to be good.
F1 2016 was much better then 2013 minus the classic content.
But it's just the feel of the cars. It's not there. When you've been throwing classic and current formula cars around rF2 it's really hard to pick this up and give it a fair go.
Both my F1 games on PC just sit there in my library on Steam virtual dust and all. I think I actually uninstalled 2013 last night as it's just taking up disk space.
If only they could give it rF2 FFB it would be almost perfect...
But they either can't, won't or don't care enough to bother.
It's easier to create new models and liveries than to rework the physics and ffb from the ground up I guess....